Lecanopteris from spores?

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I have a large Lecanopteris sinuosa that has been producing fertile fronds (and covering everything with spores). For the heck of it, I gathered spores from a frond and dusted them over some (microwaved) moist peat moss in a clean, clear plastic container with a lid. I wasn't expecting much, but within a few weeks I noticed a bright green carpet of what appears to be prothalli. Or maybe moss. It's difficult to see because of the moisture in the container. But let's assume that these are indeed prothalli: when will it be safe to remove the lid? I would like to inspect these more closely, but I don't want to let rogue moss/fungus spores into the container.

Has anyone here tried Lecanopteris from spores? Any tips?

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I started all my Lecanopteris tissue cultures from spores. This works quite well, but of cause they have the chance to grow up under 100% sterile conditions without competition from moss and algae. However, I frequently find sporelings in the greenhouse. Most of them germinate and grow on the under side of hanging pots around the drainage holes.

All the best

Andreas

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Don't we all wish we had the sterile tissue culture and light banks that Andreas has!!!

I have successfully raised all 5 Lecanopteris species from spores that I have tried: mirabilis, curtisii, darnaedii, pumila and sinuosa. For me it is a slow process and I don't get decent little plantlets until the third year. It is a hobby for me and not a business.

I start with compressed peat pellets and soak them in distilled water. Then I cut them in half the long way and lay them in a petri dish or shallow tray. I sprinkle the spores on the exposed surface of the pellet from the cut and spray with a fine mist of distilled water. I insert the whole thing in a zip lock sandwich bag and put under lights, off to the side of the fixture. No real need to water with the totally closed system and I eventually get a green mat of the gametophyte generation (your word prothalli). Once those show up I occasionally open the bag and spray a fine mist of distilled water so the sperm can swim to the eggs. The new sporophyte generation (The ferns with rhizomes and fronds we grow) will eventually start to grow from where fertilization was successful.

Pricking out those sporophytes and putting them into small community pots of milled or chopped sphagnum is where it gets trickier and I loose some. Those community pots also get distilled water and are totally closed in zip lock bags. Only when the plantlets get some rhizome and have several fronds do I gradually start the process of opening the zip lock bag in small increments over a period of many weeks to get the plants off of full humidity

I know some people sterilize the cut open peat pellets in a microwave as you do. I don't, but I sometimes have to "harvest out" fungus or moss from within my zip-locked bags. Again, I am not a commercial grower and don't mind losing a part of my crop to moss and fungi.

To answer your question specifically - I would suggest you not remove the lid on your containers until you have sporophytes growing and be sure to remove the lid by small increments.

Doing a google search for "growing ferns from spores" will give you some other people's experiences and techniques. There is no one right way to do this.

Good luck and let us know how the process goes for you.

Frank

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Frank, I'm also a hobbyist and grow nearly all of my plants on a large rack in bright window, with supplemental light and humidity in the winter. L. sinuosa and L. mirabilis (which I think I obtained from you on a certain auction site...) are doing very well and I thought to try growing from spores as a fun experiment more than anything else. Thank you for the encouraging post; I'll update this thread as things progress.

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Don't we all wish we had the sterile tissue culture and light banks that Andreas has!!!

I have successfully raised all 5 Lecanopteris species from spores that I have tried: mirabilis, curtisii, darnaedii, pumila and sinuosa. For me it is a slow process and I don't get decent little plantlets until the third year. It is a hobby for me and not a business.

I start with compressed peat pellets and soak them in distilled water. Then I cut them in half the long way and lay them in a petri dish or shallow tray. I sprinkle the spores on the exposed surface of the pellet from the cut and spray with a fine mist of distilled water. I insert the whole thing in a zip lock sandwich bag and put under lights, off to the side of the fixture. No real need to water with the totally closed system and I eventually get a green mat of the gametophyte generation (your word prothalli). Once those show up I occasionally open the bag and spray a fine mist of distilled water so the sperm can swim to the eggs. The new sporophyte generation (The ferns with rhizomes and fronds we grow) will eventually start to grow from where fertilization was successful.

Pricking out those sporophytes and putting them into small community pots of milled or chopped sphagnum is where it gets trickier and I loose some. Those community pots also get distilled water and are totally closed in zip lock bags. Only when the plantlets get some rhizome and have several fronds do I gradually start the process of opening the zip lock bag in small increments over a period of many weeks to get the plants off of full humidity

I know some people sterilize the cut open peat pellets in a microwave as you do. I don't, but I sometimes have to "harvest out" fungus or moss from within my zip-locked bags. Again, I am not a commercial grower and don't mind losing a part of my crop to moss and fungi.

To answer your question specifically - I would suggest you not remove the lid on your containers until you have sporophytes growing and be sure to remove the lid by small increments.

Doing a google search for "growing ferns from spores" will give you some other people's experiences and techniques. There is no one right way to do this.

Good luck and let us know how the process goes for you.

Frank

frank , I've grown staghorns from spores..are these any different to start, are these slow growing/

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I started all my Lecanopteris tissue cultures from spores. This works quite well, but of cause they have the chance to grow up under 100% sterile conditions without competition from moss and algae. However, I frequently find sporelings in the greenhouse. Most of them germinate and grow on the under side of hanging pots around the drainage holes.

All the best

Andreas

hi andreas

how fast do they grow in culture , does the media need to be wet for the gametophytes to mate? I'e grown staghorns in-vivo and also just started them in-vitro..they sure germinate faster in-vitro